Ecological Characteristics of Phytoplankton Communities in the Coastal Waters of Gori, Wolseong, Uljin and Younggwang 2. Distributions of Standing Crops and Environmental Variables (1992-1996)

• Published in: Pada (Hanʼguk Haeyang Hakhoe) Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 108 - 128
• Main Authors: Kang, Y-S, Choi, J-K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 01.01.2002
• Subjects: Bacillariophyceae; Marine; INW, Korea, Rep., Younggwang; INW, Korea, Rep., Wolseong; INW, Korea, Rep., Uljin; INW, Korea, Rep., Kori
• ISSN: 1226-2978

In order to investigate the ecological characteristics of phytoplankton communities around a nuclear power plant in Gori coastal waters of the South East Sea, Wolseong and Uljin coastal waters of the East Sea and Younggwang coastal waters of the Yellow Sea, the standing crops and chlorophyll-a concentrations of phytoplankton were studied during 1992-1996 and the relationships between standing crops and environmental variables were analyzed. The concentrations of nitrogenous nutrients were on average 0.101, 0.094, 0.072 and 0.108 mg/l and those of phosphorus were on average 0.007, 0.008, 0.006 and 0.009 mg/l in Gori, Wolseong, Uljin and Younggwang, respectively. The N:P ratios were highly variable, ranging from 3.2 to 57.3, from 3.1 to 109.0, from 2.6 to 102.0 and from 1.0 to 165.0 in Gori, Wolseong, Uljin and Younggwang, respectively. The concentrations of suspended solids were on average 18.7, 16.7, 11.6 and 52.7 mg/l and transparencies were on average 3.8, 5.4, 7.9 and 0.7 m in Gori, Wolseong, Uljin and Younggwang, respectively. Total standing crops of phytoplankton averaged 710,659, 687,508, 656,245 and 1,278,173 cells/l in Gori, Wolseong, Uljin and Younggwang, respectively. The standing crops of microplankton(>20 k m) averaged 357,546, 333,638, 276,407 and 592,975 cells/l, those of nanoplankton(<20 k m) averaged 353,113, 353,870, 379,838 and 574,563 cells/l in Gori, Wolseong, Uljin and Younggwang, respectively. While standing crops of diatoms were averaged 282,009, 284,710, 238,758 and 574,563 cells/l, those of dinoflagellates were averaged 46,079, 35,401, 32,906 and 16,749 cells/l in Gori, Wolseong, Uljin and Younggwang, respectively. The seasonal standing crops of diatoms in Gori, Wolseong and Uljin were higher in Spring than other seasons, but were lower in Summer than other seasons in Younggwang. The seasonal standing crops of dinoflagellates in Gori and Younggwang were higher in Summer than other seasons, but were higher in Autumn than other seasons in Uljin. Average of chlorophyll-a concentrations ranged from 2.16 to 4.28 k g/l in 4 study areas with the highest concentration occurred in Younggwang. Indices of species diversity ranged from 2.11 to 2.24 in 4 study areas. While community structures of phytoplankton were unstable during winter and stable during summer in Gori, Wolseong and Uljin coastal waters, those of phytoplankton were stable during winter and summer than during spring and autumn in Younggwang. The analysis results of Pearson product moment correlation coefficient between standing crops and environmental variables showed that distributions of standing crops were affected by transparencies. suspended solids, and some nutrient(NO sub(3) super(-)-N, PO sub(4) super(3-)-P), even though the degree of influences were a little different according to the season and the surveyed zone.